recognize

/ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

proscribed/ˈɹɛk.ən.aɪz/

recognize verb: to match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.

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Verb (1)

recognize (third-person singular simple present recognizes, present participle recognizing, simple past and past participle recognized)

(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
- I recognized his face immediately, although his voice was different.
- He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird tales...1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

place
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To acknowledge the existence or legality of; to treat as valid or worthy of consideration.
- The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognize Kosovo on Monday.
- The U.S. recognizes Canadian sovereignty over the islands bordering the passage but insists that the passage itself is an international waterway open to ships of all nations.1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 22
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive, or with clause) To acknowledge or consider (as being a certain thing or having a certain quality or property).
- Slavery is widely recognized as immoral.
- I recognize that my behaviour has been unacceptable.
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To realize or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in.
- In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To show formal appreciation of, as with an award, commendation etc.
- His services were recognized in a testimonial.
- The soldier was recognized in dispatches.
(British, English, Oxford, US, obsolete) To review; to examine again.
- We do moste humbly submytte it [this treatise] to[…]your maiestie, to be recognised, ouersene, and corrected.1534, Thomas Cranmer, The Institution of a Christian Man
(British, English, Oxford, US, obsolete) To reconnoiter.
- before the siege was layd to the Towne, of minde to recognize, he fell unawares amongst an Ambushcade1637, Robert Monro, Monro, His Expedition With the Worthy Scots Regiment Called Mac-Keys
(British, English, Oxford, US) To have the property to bind to specific antigens.

Verb (2)

recognize (third-person singular simple present recognizes, present participle recognizing, simple past and past participle recognized)

(British, English, North-American, Oxford, UK, US) to cognize again

recognize meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

recognize in Hindi

to match in memory; to know from a previous encounter: पहचानना pahcānnā

recognize in Tamil

உணர், அடையாளம் கண்டுகொள், அங்கீகரி, கண்டுகொள்

recognize in Urdu

to match in memory; to know from a previous encounter: پہچانا pahcānnā

recognize in Bengali

চিনতে পারা, স্বীকার করা, উপলব্ধি করা, প্রকৃতি বোঝা, পুরস্কৃত করা, সম্মানিত করা

More languagesFewer languages

recognize in Malayalam: അംഗീകരിക്കുക aṅgīkarikkuka, തിരിച്ചറിയുക tiriccaṟiyuka
recognize in Kannada: ಗುರುತಿಸು, ಕಂಡುಹಿಡಿ, ಮಾನ್ಯಮಾಡು
recognize in Gujarati: ઓળખવું oḷkhavũ
recognize in Odia: ଚିହ୍ନିବା cihnibā
recognize in Sanskrit: प्रत्यभिज्ञा pratyabhijñā, वेदयति vedáyati, वेत्ति vétti
recognize in Assamese: চিনি পোৱা sini püa, চিনা sina
recognize in Nepali: चिन्नु cinnu
recognize in Tagalog: makilala, kumilala, kilalanin, mamukhaan
recognize in Arabic: تَعَرَّفَ taʕarrafa
recognize in Persian: شناختن šenâxtan, به رسمیت شناختن be rasmiyyat šenâxtan, تشخیص دادن tašxis dâdan
recognize in Myanmar: မှတ်မိ hmatmi.
Kashmiri: پَرزٕناوُن parzụnāvun

Examples of recognize in a sentence

The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.1973, John Berger, chapter 1, in Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC:
Today’s statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy,” Pompeo wrote.2021 January 9, Kylie Atwood, quoting Mike Pompeo, “US lifts self-imposed restrictions with Taiwan”, in CNN, archived from the original on...

All 40 example sentences with recognize

Synonyms of recognize

place

Forms of recognize

third-person singular present	recognizes
present participle	recognizing
past participle	recognized
past	recognized
alternative form	recognise
alternative form	re-cognize

Past tense of recognize: recognized

Origin of recognize

Borrowed from Middle French reconoistre, from Old French reconoistre, from Latin recognoscere, first attested in the 16th century. Displaced native English acknow (“to recognize, perceive as”), compare German erkennen and Swedish erkänna. Latin had rare recognizare (“to try by jury”).

From re- + cognize.

Words formed from recognize

Questions about recognize

What does recognize mean?: Recognize means to match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing.
What is recognize in Hindi?: Recognize in Hindi is पहचानना (pahcānnā). See Recognize meaning in Hindi.
How do you use recognize in a sentence?: The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.
What part of speech is recognize?: Recognize is a verb.
How do you pronounce recognize?: Recognize is pronounced /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/.
What is the past tense of recognize?: The past tense of recognize is recognized.

Words near recognize in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: recognize (page history and authors); recognize (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); recognize (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); recognize (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଚିହ୍ନିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); प्रत्यभिज्ञा (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); चिन्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-recognize.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-recognize.wav.

Cite this entry: “recognize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recognize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.